Les Miles and Kevin Sumlin had some interesting things to say after the LSU Tigers beat the Texas A&M Aggies 23-17.

Les Miles, LSU

Opening statement…

“I want to congratulate the Texas A&M Aggies. They played a great game. That young freshman quarterback is going to be a hell of a player. They are a talented team. Coach Sumlin has done a good job. I thought the offensive coordinator Cam Cameron did a good job. We had some different wrinkles on offense, and I thought that certainly helped things. We rushed for 384 yards and had just under 500 yards of total offense, and had the ball 41 minutes to their 18. If we can do that, generally we’re going to win. Leonard Fournette had 146. Anthony Jennings carried the ball 14 times for 127. Our defense played awfully well on the day, minus a play. I look forward to studying this film, and watching some of these calls. I’m certain that I didn’t see it quite right.”

On the rivalry with A&M…

“When I first got here, they kept saying to me, and I didn’t understand it, ‘Aren’t you guys going to play the Aggies? Aren’t you going to play the Aggies?’ Apparently, for years, I’m told two ten-year stints they played Texas A&M. It was a tremendous rival because of the border war. Then, before we got them on the schedule, we were in the Cotton Bowl against you guys and I’m telling you right now the number of people that came up to me saying, ‘Are you kidding me? This is the best bowl ever. You must win.’ They went back and they talked about games. They talked about history, and then now they are in the league. I think it’s a tremendous rivalry. We need a trophy. Someone needs to come up with a trophy. Because there is so much petroleum on both end, I think like a big, not barrel, a wrench–like the roughnecks. There’s a chance for a trophy out there. It’s a hell of an idea.”

Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M

Q: Did the officials give you any explanation on why the offsides penalty wasn’t called there at the end?

Kevin Sumlin: Um, no. They just said that they didn’t call it.

Q: Is there anything that Kyle [Allen] should have done differently on that last play?

Kevin Sumlin: You’ve seen this before. It’s part of what we do, and when we have someone in the neutral zone, our center snaps it and we have a free play. And we tried to take advantage of that. We’ve scored some times off of that. Unfortunately, the ball may have look like it slipped out of Kyle’s hand, but that’s what he’s coached to do.

Q: What’s your process — you’re 7-5 obviously it’s not what you’re looking for — as you evaluate your staff, where do you go from here over the next week to two weeks?

Kevin Sumlin: We start the recruiting contact period really Sunday, so we’ll be in people’s homes and out next week. I’ll sit down tomorrow and start, as we’ve done over the course of the year, and look at where we are and what we need to do from a big picture stand point. And we’ll go from there.